


Tea Leaves

by perductus



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: End Game Spoilers, Gen, Tea Leaves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-04
Updated: 2014-03-04
Packaged: 2018-01-14 13:21:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1267921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perductus/pseuds/perductus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"They had unearthed a box of tea leaves in what remained of the kitchen and Yasuhiro had immediately started jumping around insisting that he would read everyone's fortunes in their teacups. Everyone else had nodded politely and accepted the tea that Yasuhiro sloppily prepared for them all, hoping that by the time they had finished drinking the actual tea, Yasuhiro might have forgotten all about trying to determine the future from what was left. Except he didn't."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tea Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not read tea leaves and have never actually read tea leaves so this is all second hand knowledge and internet research!

The fireplace crackled, casting a warm glow over the living room of a derelict bungalow belonging to an unknown victim of despair. The six surviving Hopes Peak students were gathered around the fire, using the old shack as a temporary refuge as night fell. Byakuya sat in an old armchair, book in hand and legs crossed. Touko sat at his feet, leaning against the chair's front leg, writing fervently in a small leather-bound notebook. Kyouko and Aoi, the latter of which sat cross legged, rested on the sofa that sat directly opposite the fire. Kyouko held an old crossword book and was attempting to solve it (and was doing quite well too). Makoto and Yasuhiro were sprawled out on the floor, peering into two nearly empty teacups. They had unearthed a box of tea leaves in what remained of the kitchen and Yasuhiro had immediately started jumping around insisting that he would read everyone's fortunes in their teacups. Everyone else had nodded politely and accepted the tea that Yasuhiro sloppily prepared for them all, hoping that by the time they had finished drinking the actual tea, Yasuhiro might have forgotten all about trying to determine the future from what was left. Except he didn't. 

'OK, Naegi-chi,' Yasuhiro instructed, pushing a saucer towards Makoto. 'You gotta pour the contents of your cup onto this and then wait three seconds, then remove the cup!'

'OK…' Makoto did as Yasuhiro told him to do, a look of slight bemusement on his face. After three seconds, Makoto lifted his teacup, revealing a mess of soggy tea leaves on the saucer. 

'Now you gotta look for shapes or patterns, and then I'll tell you what they mean!' Yasuhiro enthused. 

Makoto squinted at the slush on the patterned china. He stayed like that for a long time.

'Well??' the fortune teller pressed him. 

'It's a mess of wet leaves, of course he's not going to find anything,' Byakuya scoffed, looking down at them over the top of his book. 'And even if he does, it can't possibly mean anything about his life.'

'Ye of little faith!' Yasuhiro said, shaking his head, still grinning down at the saucer of leaves. 

'I think I've got something,' said Makoto, a smile spreading across his face. 'I think that's a four-leafed clover!' He pointed to one of the blobs in the mush. Yasuhiro leaned in closer to see. 

'It is! That means you're going to have some good luck soon!'

Byakuya snorted from his chair. 'Naegi's "special talent" _is_ luck, unless you'd forgotten.'

'Y-yeah!' Touko chimed in, peeking up from her writing. 'He's supposedly lucky all the t-time!' 

'That just goes to show how right the tea leaves are!' Yasuhiro argued. 'What else can you see Naegi-chi?' 

'Uhh…' Makoto examined the saucer. 'A mountain? I think that's what that is?'

'A mountain…' Yasuhiro considered. 'That could mean a difficult goal you will soon have to overcome…'

'That's referring to our current situation, right?' Aoi piped up, scrambling off the sofa and onto the floor to join the two boys. She presented her own nearly empty teacup. 

'Can I do mine?'

Yasuhiro showed Aoi how to drain her teacup and soon she too had a saucer of leaves and was examining it closely. 

'Ooh! I can see a flower!' she cried, grinning excitedly at the saucer. 'What's that mean?' 

'A flower can often refer to new or developing relationships,' Kyouko offered, placing her crossword down on the empty space on the sofa left by Aoi. 'A daisy, for example, means new love may be found in your life.'

'You read the leaves too?' Yasuhiro's mouth dropped open. 

'I know a little bit about tea leaves,' shrugged Kyouko. 'Now, let's see what mine has to offer.' 

Kyouko performed the same routine as Makoto and Aoi had done and then gazed into the saucer. 

'What's it say?' asked Aoi. 

'I can see a lock.'

'That means obstacles!' Yasuhiro nodded, as if offering up extremely important advice. Kyouko nodded in agreement. 

'Not the most positive symbol I could find but it's something!'

Yasuhiro turned his attention to Byakuya and Touko. 'You guys haven't looked in yours yet!'

'I haven't finished mine,' Byakuya replied, coldly. 

Touko cast her eyes to her empty teacup, then up at Byakuya, her forehead creased. 

'Let's do your cup, Fukawa-chan!' Aoi clapped her hands together and shuffled over to where Touko sat. Aoi took the teacup and tipped it onto the saucer, but before she could remove the cup, Touko snatched it off her. 

'I w-want to do it,' she said, her tone reproachful. Aoi looked a little stunned for a moment before smiling again. 

'Sure! Remove the teacup and tell us what you see!' 

Touko slowly placed the now completely empty teacup down on the floor and squinted at the leaves. 

'I can see… a tower…?' she said, furrowing her brow. 

'What kind of tower?' Kyouko asked. 

'A castle tower… but it seems to be on f-fire!' said Touko, looking a little distressed. 

'Tower can mean expanding your horizons, or on the other hand can mean trapped,' Kyouko explained. 'And fire-'

'Fire means you're gonna die!' Yasuhiro yelled, causing everyone in the room to jump. 

'I'm g-going to d-d-die?!' Touko squeaked, her eyes wide. 

'Of course she's not going to die,' Byakuya snapped, slamming his book shut in irritation. 

'Ah..! Ahaha… g-good…!' 

'Yeah! Don't worry, Fukawa-chan,' Aoi patted the writer's shoulder before throwing Yasuhiro a disapproving look. 'I'm sure it doesn't mean that!'

Yasuhiro made a gesture as if he were going to speak but Kyouko cut across him. 'From what I read, fire actually means sexual desire.' 

Touko giggled before her hand shot to her mouth. 'Sexual d-desire…?' she mumbled. 'Hehe… is that.. my own? Or…' her gaze wandered to Byakuya. '.. or of other's?'

Byakuya pursed his lips and frowned. 

'Fukawa-chan's done her's, you should do your one now!' said Aoi, turning to Byakuya who sighed and downed the last of his tea. He drained the cup and glared into the saucer. Everyone waited.

'I can see something resembling a bear,' he said, finally, and with great resentment in his voice.

'Monokuma!' Yasuhiro yelled one again. Byakuya shot him a withering look. 

'No, not Monokuma,' he said. 'This is just a normal bear.'

'A bear can refer to a grouchy or difficult person,' Kyouko chimed in. She smiled at Byakuya. 'You were saying how the leaves weren't accurate?' 

Byakuya scowled while Aoi and Makoto snickered. Touko leapt up and perched on the arm of Byakuya's armchair, peering over his shoulder at the saucer. Byakuya's frown deepened but he did not say anything. 

'Oooh...' Touko giggled, pointing into the saucer. 'It l-looks like Byakuya-sama's got a f-fire too!' 

'That doesn't look anything like a fire,' Byakuya scoffed. 'It looks more like a tree. And anyway, it doesn't count if _you_ spot things in _my_ saucer.' 

'He's right, Fukawa-chi,' Yasuhiro nodded wisely. 'Only the owner of the tea leaves may find patterns...'

'But if that's the case then surely none of us can see stuff, since this isn't even our house, let alone our tea leaves!' Aoi pointed out. 

'Oh! Uhm...'

'I'm sure what Hagakure-kun meant was that whoever has drunk the tea can see patterns in the saucer,' once again, Kyouko explained. 

'Yeah!' Yasuhiro grinned. 'That's exactly what I meant! Hey, Kirigiri-chi, you should think about a career in fortune telling - you've really got the knack for it!'

Kyouko shook her head. 'I've simply read a few internet articles. I'll leave the fortune telling to you. You haven't read your tea leaves yet!'

Yasuhiro looked aghast. 'You're right!' Immediately, he tipped his cup onto the saucer. 

'What'll it be this time?' drawled Byakuya scathingly. 'Death and destruction? The second end of the world?'

A pause, as the fortune teller gazed into the saucer. 

'I see...'

Everyone (even Byakuya, though he would later deny it) leant forwards a little in anticipation. 

'A triangle.' 

'A triangle?' asked Aoi. 'What the heck does that mean?' 

'It can mean to expect the unexpected,' Kyouko offered. 

Nobody had a chance to respond as without warning, a beam from the roof gave out and with a sickening creek and splintering of wood, fell towards the spot where Aoi was sitting. Touko screamed and buried her face in Byakuya's shoulder but before the beam could hit Aoi, Yasuhiro leapt across the carpet and shoved her out of the way, knocking her flat onto the floor. When the dust and rubble from the beam had settled there was a shocked silence as everyone took a moment to work out what had just happened. 

'It's too dangerous to stay here,' Kyouko spoke, breaking the stunned silence. She rose from the sofa. 'Hagakure-kun, you can let Asahina-san go now.'

Yasuhiro looked confused until it dawned on him that he was laying draped over Aoi's body. He leapt up, blushing red. Aoi also picked herself up from the floor, shaken but otherwise unscathed. 

'Kirigiri-san's right, this building's just as unstable as the rest,' Makoto agreed, gingerly stepping over the fallen beam, which had just narrowly missed him. It seemed that his special talent, and to some extent Yasuhiro's tea leaves, had paid off. 

Kyouko moved towards the exit of the room. 

'Let's get our stuff and go. Naegi-kun, could you extinguish the fire?'

Aoi and Yasuhiro followed Kyouko to the door, while Makoto threw the bucket of water they'd had on standby onto the fire, putting it out with a loud hiss. The room suddenly became extremely dim, the only light being that of the moon streaming in through the curtain-less windows. 

Throughout all this, Touko had fallen onto Byakuya's lap and had her arms wrapped around his neck. With all the commotion of Aoi's near death, Byakuya hadn't had the chance to tell her to get off him. 

'Fukawa, get off me,' he said, trying to pry her arms away from his neck. 

'W-what if another beam falls?' Touko stuttered. 'My tea leaves said I was going to d-die! If I s-stay here, you'll p-protect me, right...?' 

Byakuya scowled. 'I can't do anything at all if you don't move.' 

Touko whimpered, casting the floor a nervous gaze. 

'Oh for god's sake,' Byakuya hoisted Touko into some sort of bridal lift and left the chair, carrying her across the floor towards the door. 'I have a hard time believing that there's a part of your brain capable of brutal and cunning murders,' he muttered.

Touko might have protested about the mention of her other half, but she was honestly too busy screaming internally.

Byakuya set her down as Kyouko opened the front door of the house. The group exited the crumbling shack and once again found themselves standing amongst the remnants of despair. The moonlight cast silvery shadows across the deserted road and an eerie silence bore down on their ears. 

'We should get going,' Though he hadn't spoken that loudly, Makoto's voice echoed through the empty street. 'I don't know about you guys, but I'm not too keen on wandering the streets of the city at night.'

'While we walk, I could read our fortunes in the stars!' Yasuhiro piped up in excitement. 

This statement was met with protest from the entire group. 


End file.
